Balduck Park

[bartock]

Took my 4 year old there last night for sledding. Full of parents, kids, great lighting, view of St. John. All different kinds of people, etc. Eastern Market on a snow hill. Very positive vibe.

[EastsideAl]

I loved going sledding there when I was a kid. Glad to hear that it's still going strong.

[gibran]

many fine evenings gliding down the hill and loved the "run" as we used to call it....until I was in high school and the hill became part of our x-country route and meet...the the run became a real run....

[zitro]

many fine evenings gliding down the hill and loved the "run" as we used to call it....until I was in high school and the hill became part of our x-country route and meet...the the run became a real run....

I hear ya on that one. We used to practice there every day. I came to loath that hill.

[detroitsgwenivere]

Where exactly is this happy hill located? [[I have no kids to tell me these things)

[pgn421]

It's east of Moross., and south of E.Warren ave.
On Canyon. Between E.Warren and Chandler Park Drive.

[detroitsgwenivere]

It's east of Moross., and south of E.Warren ave.
On Canyon. Between E.Warren and Chandler Park Drive.

Danke. I'm off to buy some sleds tomarrow!!!

[elrick]

much of the credit for balduck's upkeep goes to eagle sports club, a faith-based non-profit that has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild the baseball diamonds and cut the grass for baseball, soccer and flag football. they had more than 2,000 kids in their sports programs last year. the families pay a nominal fee and the kids get snazzy uniforms while having fun learning about sports from positive adult role models.
to learn more about eagle sports -- or to support them -- check out www.eaglesportsclub.com.

[Gistok]

Elrick, welcome to the forum [[even though you've been around a while).... and thanks for that bit of info on Balduck Park. I can only image how dumpy it would look if it weren't for the Eagle Sports Club.

I remember Balduck hill back when they had 2 wooden toboggan runs [[and the skating rink). And I remember in the summer time taking my bicycle down the hill, but that was long ago.

They had installed tall floodlights above the hill quite a while back... but usually I see kids sledding at night in the dark. Is that still the case, or are the lights working again?

[bartock]

Elrick, welcome to the forum [[even though you've been around a while).... and thanks for that bit of info on Balduck Park. I can only image how dumpy it would look if it weren't for the Eagle Sports Club.

I remember Balduck hill back when they had 2 wooden toboggan runs [[and the skating rink). And I remember in the summer time taking my bicycle down the hill, but that was long ago.

They had installed tall floodlights above the hill quite a while back... but usually I see kids sledding at night in the dark. Is that still the case, or are the lights working again?

When we were there a few nights ago the flood light that's I guess on the east side of the hill was on, and the other was not. Still plenty of light though.

[Carey]

Once upon a time Balduck had a great skating rink. And it was so easy: All the city did was open up a fire hydrant and flood a sprawling, depressed area in the ground. Why can't they do that today? [[I admit I haven't noticed lately if the hydrant is still there.)

[jcole]

Once upon a time Balduck had a great skating rink. And it was so easy: All the city did was open up a fire hydrant and flood a sprawling, depressed area in the ground. Why can't they do that today? [[I admit I haven't noticed lately if the hydrant is still there.)

Liability and a sue happy world

[eastsidechris]

I drove past Balduck after 11 on Wednesday night...the lights were still on and there was one lone snowboarder still doing his/her thing.

[ct_alum]

It's east of Moross., and south of E.Warren ave.
On Canyon. Between E.Warren and Chandler Park Drive.

Uh, try West of Moross and North of Warren.

[EastSider]

Uh, try West of Moross and North of Warren.

Since Moross doesn't run due north/south, should we really argue about whether it's the "south" side or "west" side? How about "on Chandler Park between Moross and Cadieux?" Then you avoid the whole issue about directions, since the streets change their orientation right around there.

[Bearinabox]

Since Moross doesn't run due north/south, should we really argue about whether it's the "south" side or "west" side? How about "on Chandler Park between Moross and Cadieux?" Then you avoid the whole issue about directions, since the streets change their orientation right around there.

The city considers Moross an east-west street. The addresses increase from northwest to southeast.

[Hermod]

Once upon a time Balduck had a great skating rink. And it was so easy: All the city did was open up a fire hydrant and flood a sprawling, depressed area in the ground. Why can't they do that today? [[I admit I haven't noticed lately if the hydrant is still there.)

When I went to Anthony Wayne Elementary School on Lakepointe and Courville, we had an area at the edge of the school property with a berm enclosing a rectangular area maybe 100' by 30' that DFD would flood just as it was getting real cold for ice skating. We used to walk over to the school to skate.

[KENSINGTONY]

When I was young[[back in the previous century),the area at the bottom of Balduck Hill used to be flooded in winter to ice over.That made the ride a REAL adventure when the sled got down there as the ice would turn the sled in unpredictable ways.To add to the fun there was a lip of snow at the edge of the ice which would trip the sliding sled and toss the rider off.

[EMG]

Now this thread brings back memories on so many levels.

When I was a very young kid in the early to mid 60's my mother used to take me there skating in the winter. It was the first place I learned how to skate. I also remember when they served hot chocolate in the building just south [[or west depending on which half of the direction-interpreting public you happen to be a member of) of the open skating area.

Also my mother and sometimes my grandfather would take me there sledding on the hill. In the warmer months my grandfather would take me there to fly a kite - Balduck was the best open place to do that, and the St. Jude / Heilman playfields ran a close second.

I also perked up when I read some of the above posts about cross country practice there. I was on the University Liggett Cross Country team in the 1977 and 1978 seasons, and we did have the occasional meet there. I think we only used the place once or twice for practice in between meets, though. Too bad, since if we had gone there more often we might have done better as a team! The meets we did have there were against Lutheran East and possibly another team but if so I can't remember which one. Those of you who practiced and met there, which schools and which years were you there? Wonder if we might ever have run in some of the same meets?

[michigansheik]

i had many runs down the hill at balduck, great times and glad its still being enjoyed.......did anyone cross country ski the woods on belle isle as a kid....i seem to remember my family having some company....

[Hermod]

i had many runs down the hill at balduck, great times and glad its still being enjoyed.......did anyone cross country ski the woods on belle isle as a kid....i seem to remember my family having some company....

We used to go skating on the Belle Isle "lagoons" in the winter.

[Eastside]

We used to go skating on the Belle Isle "lagoons" in the winter.

By any chance, does anyone know how deep the lagoons are?

[DanFromDetroit]

May or may not have once taken the old Wrangler to the top of Balduck back in the day... I may have been a stupid kid but damn was that fun. I heard from my mother once that they shaved down the original size of the hill some years ago but I don't have any more information. Does anyone know why or have original hill dimensions?

[zitro]

Now this thread brings back memories on so many levels.

When I was a very young kid in the early to mid 60's my mother used to take me there skating in the winter. It was the first place I learned how to skate. I also remember when they served hot chocolate in the building just south [[or west depending on which half of the direction-interpreting public you happen to be a member of) of the open skating area.

Also my mother and sometimes my grandfather would take me there sledding on the hill. In the warmer months my grandfather would take me there to fly a kite - Balduck was the best open place to do that, and the St. Jude / Heilman playfields ran a close second.


I also perked up when I read some of the above posts about cross country practice there. I was on the University Liggett Cross Country team in the 1977 and 1978 seasons, and we did have the occasional meet there. I think we only used the place once or twice for practice in between meets, though. Too bad, since if we had gone there more often we might have done better as a team! The meets we did have there were against Lutheran East and possibly another team but if so I can't remember which one. Those of you who practiced and met there, which schools and which years were you there? Wonder if we might ever have run in some of the same meets?

EMG I ran for Notre Dame 70,71,72, Obviously Austin practiced a lot there too, and I recall GP North would use it also but not as frequently. The Hammers family from GP North were their top harriers

I don't recall ever running any meets there, just practice, we used to run our dual meets at River Rouge Park

[EMG]

Geez, I had almost forgotten all about Austin. I believe Austin closed down in the very late 70's or very early 80's. I actually took an elective summer school class in accounting in Austin in the summer of '78. [[I later went on to major in accounting at University of Detroit and knew already that that was what I was going to do, so I decided to take that accounting course as an introduction just to make sure I really liked it. University Liggett, which I attended at the time, didn't offer any accounting courses).

There was at least one student in my Liggett graduating class who had transferred over from Austin.

ULS never ran any meets against Austin or GPN. There were at least four different classes of teams - arranged on the basis of school/team size I believe - A through D and ULS was in the D group and Austin / GPN obviously must have been in different ones.